By CommonGround Nebraska Volunteer Amanda Beierman
What is your favorite plant to put in your garden? We all have that one favorite plant, and we can’t go any summer without planting. While most people I hear say zucchini, green beans or tomatoes, in our family our favorite thing to plant is kohlrabi.
Growing up we always planted kohlrabi, but no one else knew what I was talking about. To this day, many people don’t know what kohlrabi is. So, if you are unfamiliar with or have never planted kohlrabi, I suggest you start!
Kohlrabi is a cool-season vegetable that is best planted towards the beginning to middle of spring. It can withstand some frost, but not a hard freeze. Kohlrabi can be either green or purple, but in our family, the green variety is our favorite. We plant ours from plants that have been started, not directly from seeds in our garden.
Kohlrabi like other vegetables, offers a variety of vitamins and nutrients. They are known for having vitamin C, potassium, fiber and vitamin B6. You can eat kohlrabi raw by peeling the outside coating of the kohlrabi plant off. Some like adding it to salads, adding a bit of salt to it, dipping it some ranch dip, or just eating it plain. You can also steam or cook it, and it tastes very similar to cooked cabbage this way. Still, to this day, our favorite way to eat it is peeling it straight out of the garden! There is nothing like eating a good kohlrabi out in the sunshine on a hot day straight from picking it!
Kohlrabi is usually one of the first things ready in our garden because it can be picked in as short as 55 days. This makes it an easy plant to plant, harvest, and then still plant another vegetable in your garden after all of them have been produced. You can repurpose this space in your garden, making sure you get the most out of your garden.
If you have planted, known, or seen kohlrabi before now, I hope you enjoy eating it as much as my family does. If you have never tried or heard of it before, I highly recommend planting it in your garden this year to see if you and your family enjoy it as much as mine! Happy gardening!
